Hotels Positioned For Growth in 2014

Hotels are poised to see healthy growth in 2014, according to data from the February 2014 TravelClick North American Hospitality Review (NAHR). Both the transient (individual business and leisure travelers) as well as the group segment are seeing gains in occupancy and ADR for the next 12 months, which sets the stage for solid RevPAR growth this year.

“TravelClick hotel booking data shows that for the next 12 months hotels can expect more guests at higher room rates,” said Tim Hart, executive vice president, business intelligence, TravelClick. “Although growth in 2013 was dominated by the transient segment, the encouraging pace of group as well as continued transient strength indicates a more balanced outlook for 2014.”

12 Month Outlook (February 2014 – January 2015)

For the next 12 months (February 2014 – January 2015), overall committed occupancy* is up 4.2 percent when compared with the same time last year. ADR are up 3.2 percent based on reservations currently on the books.

Transient bookings are up 5.7 percent year-over-year and ADR for this segment is up 4.7 percent. When broken down further, the transient leisure (discount, qualified and wholesale) segment is showing occupancy gains of 5.9 percent and ADR gains of 5.4 percent. The transient business (negotiated and retail) segment is up 4.8 percent with an ADR increase of 4.0 percent.

Hart concluded, “While the transient channel, which is made up of individual business and leisure travelers, is still performing well, it is not as strong as one might expect in the first quarter given recent trends. We believe that this is attributed to the fact that the Easter holiday will fall in April – as opposed to March – this year.”

The February NAHR looks at group sales commitments and individual reservations in the 25 major North American markets for hotel stays that are booked by January 26, 2014 for the period of February 2014 to January 2015.